This is the quilt that started it all!
After I got burnout from running a licensed daycare for almost two years without a break, I decided to do something nice for myself and took a quilt sampler class from Dawn Kucera in Hawaii.
The class started in March of 2000 and I had the top complete by the end of the class. I even was able to get together with two other gals, who also completed their tops to thread baste the quilts and that was as far as I got with it. At one time I tried to squeeze it through my machine (Pfaff), but that was not too much fun due to lack of space and inspiration how to quilt the sampler blocks and then it sat again. With the Juki set up with matching red, white and blue King Tut thread I spent the last several days working on it and took my last stitch yesterday. Now I just need to find matching blue Moda Marble somewhere for the binding. Good thing that there's still Moda Marbles on the market. :o)
It feels really good to have this quilt finished. It wasn't that it took so long because I no longer liked it or got tired of it. I've always liked r/w/b quilts and for my first quilt the piecing even looks good. lol There are also two blocks in it that represent my kids. One is the palm tree applique block for Michelle, because she was born in Hawaii and the other block is called Star Wars that I made for Aaron, who liked Star Wars at the time. :o)
My hang-up was how to quilt it (for hand it seemed quite large - for machine it seemed quite large hehe) with method and design. I just need to let loose on the design part. Seems I make the decision making harder than it has to be, so I just leafed through some Pam Clarke design booklets and started puttering away. Don't think there's just one PERFECT design anyway. The fabric is so busy that the quilting isn't dominant on it, other than on the sashing and borders, but you'll see that in the pictures.
My hang-up was how to quilt it (for hand it seemed quite large - for machine it seemed quite large hehe) with method and design. I just need to let loose on the design part. Seems I make the decision making harder than it has to be, so I just leafed through some Pam Clarke design booklets and started puttering away. Don't think there's just one PERFECT design anyway. The fabric is so busy that the quilting isn't dominant on it, other than on the sashing and borders, but you'll see that in the pictures.
3 comments:
Great job of quilting! This quilt looks wonderful, and what a lot you must have learned with that variety of blocks.
Hey Gabi, I remember when you first made that quilt in hawaii! You were SO proud of yourself then and It must feel WONDERFUL to have it finally finished so you can enjoy using it. Looks like Mr Mittens like it too!
HUGS,Robin
If it wouldn't have been for this class, I don't know if I'd had taken to quilting like I did. With it having been set up as a progressive sampler we started out with strips, then 4-patch, followed by half and quarter square triangles, then set in seams, curved piecing and last an applique block of our choice. The applique was a bit challanging for me, because I did not want to add another color to my red, white and blue scheme for one block, but I think the palm tree block worked with the colors I used throughout the quilt. I got the design idea for that from a "Stampin'up" catalog, so there you see, inspiration can come from anywhere.
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